


Exit the Darkness

by PunningLinguist



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, mostly diverges after DDD and ignores 0.2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29643000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunningLinguist/pseuds/PunningLinguist
Summary: Riku embarks on a rescue mission into the Realm of Darkness. Aqua finds a familiar face while wandering in the dark. As the two of them try to find their way out, they’re met with unexpected company.
Relationships: Aqua & Riku (Kingdom Hearts)
Kudos: 5





	Exit the Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've done a multichapter fic; everything else I’ve completed (whether I shared it or not) has always been a oneshot. Hopefully I’m able to keep up momentum and actually get through the whole thing, because there's quite a bit I want to do in this AU. It’s been in the works since the end of October and I’m excited to finally be able to start sharing it with you all.

The first time Riku was in the Realm of Darkness he was completely lost. Not lost as in where he was or how to get back (though he hadn’t known that either), but lost as to who he was and who he wanted to be. His pride had opened his heart to darkness and ultimately caused him to be cast out of his body and into this place, leaving him alone with the harsh realization of the person he had become.

Thankfully Mickey had come by when he did, preventing him from spending too much time immersed in his self-pity, and Riku realized he had a chance to take his first step in making things right.

The second time Riku found himself in the Realm of Darkness had two important differences. He wasn’t here because of his desire to protect his pride, but his desire to protect the people who mattered to him. He also wasn’t alone. Sora was with him, and if that was the cost of saving the realm of light, the two of them were prepared for that.

But Sora had a habit of doing the impossible, and only minutes after the two had resigned themselves to that fate, a letter arrived. A letter that had apparently found its way to the Realm of Darkness all the way from their home on the Destiny Islands, a letter he later learned Kairi had written and sent out even before Sora woke from his long sleep. Maybe Sora wasn’t the only one who had a way of doing the impossible.

Riku fondly remembered the moment he and Sora returned to the realm of light, arriving only a short swim away from one of the islands with their friends all there waiting for them. He smiled to himself as he remembered the day after, when all of them were back home on the Islands for the first time since they left, and his cheeks flushed as he remembered how the three of them had fallen asleep that night as close to each other as they could manage, none of them wanting to be even the smallest distance apart.

So despite being in the Realm of Darkness for the third time in as many years, Riku was in good spirits. It was for the best, as he had a job to do, and every minute lost from this place getting to him would be another minute longer that Aqua would be stuck here.

He wasn’t going to let that happen.

As he reminisced, a black pool formed on the ground near him and two Neoshadows prepared to lunge at him. Riku deftly spun out of the way as he summoned Way to the Dawn. In the same motion he brought his keyblade down on one of the heartless as it landed, while preparing a dark firaga in his other hand to throw into the second one.

Both heartless exploded into the same dark substance they formed from, and Riku mentally chided himself for his inattentiveness. Letting his mind wander in a place like this could be deadly, and he was lucky to have only been attacked by two of them.

With the threat taken care of for now, he took a fresh look at his surroundings, hoping against the odds that he’d find something, any hint of Aqua’s whereabouts. His ability to smell out light and darkness was useless here, the stench of darkness too intense to discern any useful information, drowning out any possibility of catching a scent of light. But the only living things were the heartless in the distance, the only landmarks the familiar blue-cracked rocky terrain that was common in this realm, though not familiar enough for him to know where he was. Definitely not familiar enough to find Aqua’s trail.

He started walking nevertheless. Even if he didn’t know which direction to go, staying in one place too long would only get him killed.

* * *

It was several days later (by his best estimate) when he found the first sign of another person. He’d spent the past few days on the move, fighting through waves of heartless not with a specific destination in mind, but with his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. And he had found it in the form of footprints. Familiar footprints, he’d realized, when he crouched down to take a closer look.

He had left them himself once, when he was still wearing the suit of darkness Ansem had created. If there was someone here in the dark realm with that same suit, it could only mean one thing.

After he found Aqua, he had someone else to save.

With his resolve deepened, Riku wracked his brain for a way to locate her. He wished, not for the first time, that Sora was here with him. If anyone would be able to find someone you barely remember in a place cut off from the rules of the realm of light, it would be Sora.

He wished Kairi was here with him too.

He definitely shouldn’t have come alone.

Mickey was going to accompany him, but Riku had argued against it, saying that there should be at least one keyblade wielder helping with Kairi and Lea’s training, and Yen Sid had agreed. And though he didn’t say as much to the retired master, it was more for Kairi’s benefit than anything else. He hadn’t missed her discomfort upon learning Lea was with them now. She was trying her best to overcome it but they both knew these things took time. He’d talked it over with her and Mickey beforehand, and after several assurances that he’d been here before and would be fine, she had agreed. If he couldn’t be there for her (as much as he wished he could), he could at least make sure she was with someone she could trust.

Riku realized belatedly that he’d been lost in thought again. He took a moment to reacquaint himself with his surroundings and look for anything unusual, something which turned out to be entirely unnecessary only a few seconds later when he heard a dissonant snarl close by.

Whatever the source of this noise was had a scent strong enough to be distinct even in the Realm of Darkness. That gave him enough of a read on its location that he could probably avoid an encounter with it.

But if it was snarling, if it was agitated by something—or maybe by someone—then there was a chance tracking it to its quarry could lead him to one of the people he hoped to save.

Despite his use of darkness and his ties to it, he was still of the Realm of Light. The heartless here wouldn’t have any trouble recognizing him as an intruder, so he needed to hide himself somehow. He could use his Dark Roll to move around while keeping himself shrouded in darkness, and maybe there was a chance his Dark Barrier would block any sign of light that he’d otherwise be showing. He’d have to be careful, keep his distance, and hope his attempts to mask his light would be enough.

They weren’t.

He’d been following the creature through a tall cavern for about an hour when it turned around to face him, darkness obscuring every inch of its massive body save for the glowing red eyes now fixed on Riku.

He barely had time to summon his keyblade and dive out of the way before it charged at him and slammed into the ground where he’d been standing a second ago, causing him to stagger.

Riku shook off the shock of the impact and put up a dark barrier just in time to block a couple swipes from the creature, its claws scraping against the magical shield. By the time he detonated his barrier, it had already jumped back into the surrounding darkness.

It charged him again, but this time he was ready. The creature’s body slammed into his barrier and he immediately countered, shattering the barrier with a blast of magic that tore into his foe.

He took advantage of the opening he made to hack at it with Way to the Dawn, but that didn’t last long.

The darkness surrounding the creature dissipated as it leapt to the side, leaving Riku face-to-face with a massive heartless. Red spikes adorned its head and spine, and all four of its legs ended in large claws.

It seemed to become more frenzied after it unmasked itself. Riku was forced on the defensive as the heartless jumped around, the shackles on its front legs rattling every time it landed or lashed out at him with its spiked tail.

He darted around the cavern to keep as much distance as possible between himself and the heartless and shot a Dark Firaga at it whenever he had a chance. But he couldn’t keep that up forever, and the monster showed no signs of tiring.

The stalemate lasted for several minutes, until he pulled out an ether to replenish his energy. The creature charged at him, covering more ground than its earlier attacks and leaving a trail of flames behind its feet. The sudden attack knocked Riku to the ground and shattered the bottle before he had the chance to drink it.

While Riku uncorked a potion the heartless opened its jagged mouth and spit a fireball at him. He dropped the potion to dodge out of the way, but the fireball exploded when it hit the cavern wall and sent Riku flying into the side of a rock.

His ears were still ringing from the explosion so he couldn’t hear who cast it, but the wave of energy that poured over him was the unmistakable warmth of a Curaga spell.

He only knew of one other person in the Realm of Darkness who would know healing magic.

And when he stood up and saw someone with a familiar face and a keyblade in her hand, he knew his suspicion was right.

He had found Master Aqua.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not entirely happy with the last third of this chapter, but I’m putting it up anyway. I could spend days editing and still not end up happy with it, or I could post it and move on to writing a chapter I might be more proud of. 
> 
> I don’t actually know if ethers are meant to be drinkable items or not. Their icon suggests they’re not, but both potions and elixirs presumably are. Rather than developing and explaining an alternate way to use them, for the purposes of this fic I’ve assumed they’re something you drink to recover your energy, even if it doesn’t line up with their in-game icon.
> 
> There's a reason I’m disregarding everything from 0.2 onwards, and it'll be more clear as the story progresses. Suffice to say for now that this is going to go completely off the rails of canon by the time this fic is done.


End file.
